Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Alabama Claims Marriage Makes 'Less Sense' For Gays In Asking Supreme Court For Stay
Alabama officials have asked the
Supreme Court to indefinitely postpone implementation of a federal
judge's orders striking down the state's ban on gay marriage.
U.S. District Judge Callie “Ginny”
Granade declared the state's ban unconstitutional in two similar
cases, both of which are set to take effect on Monday, February 9.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange
turned to the Supreme Court after the Eleventh Circuit Court of
Appeals in Atlanta denied his request to set aside Granade's rulings
as the state pursues appeals.
The emergency request was filed late
Tuesday with associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees the
Eleventh Circuit. Thomas is considered one the court's most
conservative justices.
In his request for a stay, Strange
defended the state's ban by arguing that marriage makes “less
sense” for gay couples.
“The interests supported by
opposite-sex marriage are, at the very least, rational,” he
wrote. “States are not in the marriage business 'to regulate
love.' Instead, state marriage laws link children to their
biological parents (and link these biological parents to each other)
by imposing a package of privileges and obligations – such as
presumptions of paternity – that make less sense in the context of
same-sex relationships. It is not irrational or malicious for state
laws to reflect an 'awareness of the biological reality that couples
of the same sex do not have children the same way as couples of
opposite sexes.'”
Strange also argued that allowing the
rulings to take effect will cause confusion and further litigation,
presumably against state officials who refuse to follow the order.
“A stay would serve the public
interest by avoiding confusion among local officials and additional
litigation in Alabama's other district courts. The law on this issue
can only be settled by a ruling from an appellate court that is
binding on all district court judges and state officials,” Strange
wrote.
Without intervention by the Supreme
Court, Alabama on Monday will become the 37th state, plus
the District of Columbia, where gay and lesbian couples can marry.
Same old tired response.
If marriage is just for the sake of procreation and accountability of those concerned in the act (mothers/fathers) then the state would have installed guidelines for just that purpose, but it hasn't, it allows any union between heterosexual couples regardless of age or reproductive capability.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Oregon Bakery Sweet Cakes By Melissa Found Guilty Of Discrimination
An administrative law judge has found
that bakery owners Aaron and Melissa Klein unlawfully discriminated
against a lesbian couple when they refused to make a cake for their
commitment ceremony.
The Kleins own Sweet Cakes by Melissa,
which was located in Gresham, Oregon at the time of the incident but
has since been moved to the Kleins' home.
Aaron Klein declined to make the cake
for the women on January 17, 2013. Klein said he does not hate gays
but that making a cake for a gay wedding would violate his faith.
“I'm free to exercise my religion
however I see fit,” Aaron Klein told CBN News two years ago. “I
should not be compelled to violate my conscience. If I am told that
I have to make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage, I feel that I
am violating my beliefs. I don't think I should have to do that.”
Rachel Cryer, 31, and Laurel Bowman,
30, became domestic partners on June 27, 2013. They were married May
23, 2014 and are now using Bowman-Cryer as their surname.
According to The
Oregonian, the judge rejected an attempt by lawyers
representing the Kleins to dismiss the case and said in an interim
order that they had discriminated against the Bowman-Cryers by
denying them full and equal access to a place of public
accommodations.
The ruling paves the way for a March 10
hearing in Portland to consider damages. The state has recommended
the Kleins pay $75,000 in damages.
In July, the Kleins
boasted in a Facebook post about cakes they made for an “ex-gay”
ministry that once compared homosexuality to being stuck in a “roach
motel.”
That was one expensive cake and sounds like they learned nothing about being a real Christian from the experience.
Pride goes before the fall.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Just Fucking Brilliant
Irish bigot Michael O’Leary gets a very funny rap/funk remix via Irish funk band White Boys.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Mike Huckabee Wants You To Know He Has Gay Friends
Potential presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee on Sunday described gay marriage as a biblical issue.
The 59-year-old former governor of
Arkansas earlier this month left Fox News to consider a bid for the
GOP presidential nomination.
During an appearance on CNN's State
of the Union, Huckabee insisted that he has gay friends while
suggesting that being gay is a choice like drinking or using
profanity.
“People can be my friends who have
lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle,” he told CNN's
Dana Bash. “I don't shut people out of my circle or out of my life
because they have a different point of view. I don't drink alcohol,
but gosh, a lot of my friend, maybe most of them, do. You know, I
don't use profanity, but believe me, I've got a lot of friends who
do. Some people really like classical music and ballet and opera –
it's not my cup of tea.”
Huckabee also targeted President Barack
Obama, who cited his faith in stopping short of endorsing marriage
equality in 2008, then said in offering his support four years later
that he had “evolved” on the issue.
“But for me, as it was for President
Obama in 2008, this is not just a political issue, it is a biblical
issue. And as a biblical issue … unless I get a new version of the
Scriptures, it's really not my place to say okay, I'm just going to
evolve.”
“It's like asking someone who's
Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli. We don't
want to do that. I mean, we're not going to do that. Or like asking
a Muslim to serve up something that is offensive to him, or to have
dogs in his backyard,” he added. “We're so sensitive to make
sure we don't offend certain religions, but then we act like
Christians can't have the convictions that they've had for 2,000
years.”
There are so many false equivalencies here, I'm not even going to try responding to them..he's just that big of a joke as a human being.
Just for arguments sake, show of hands that believe Mike has gay friends (and no, I don't mean ones he keeps bound and gagged in his basement)
Spasibo (Thank You)
This is a short film made by Anais Sartini and Marion Clerc in response to the homophobic law passed in Russia.
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